Wednesday, August 29, 2012

My Creative Time Challenge - Pinterest Inspired Project

Good morning everyone! After my craft show last weekend I decided to take a crafty-vacation and make things that I WANTED to make, as opposed to things I NEEDED to make for the show. It's going to be a short craft-cation, though, as I have two more shows next weekend! Eek! As part of my craft-cation, I decided to play along with My Creative Time's new challenge of making a Pinterest Inspired Project.

Piece. Of. Cake.

It helps that I'm completely addicted a frequent browser of Pinterest (you can find me under caffpapercuts). Seeing as I currently have Halloween on the brain, I decided to try one of the rolled-paper wreaths I had pinned. It looked easy and they even gave directions. So I cut up my Halloween papers using some My Mind's Eye pieces I got in a multi-pack and filling in with my own stash of black card stock and some pretty orange shimmer paper leftover from a wedding invitation order. I rolled them all up, glued them into the cones, then started work on laying them out.

Then I worked some more.

And more.

Then the muttering & cursing started.

I consider myself a skilled individual, but for the life of me I could not recreate the sample wreath with the materials they listed. The closest I got was half a wreath which made no sense as I was following the freakin' directions!!

So, I did what any reasonable crafter does at this point - threw the directions out the window and made something that made ME happy! I made a few more cones out of my black & orange card stock and made a fun, fan-shaped wreath. I used a half-circle cut out of a cereal box for the backer to give the cones something to hold on to and added twine for hanging. (Note to self: next time, add twine before you glue everything!) The middle is made from a 4" circle cut from the same cereal box and covered in Halloween print...I believe it's one of the ones from the Target dollar bin. Topping it all off is a chipboard Halloween kitty that I attached with foam tape for dimension.

My finished wreath on my lovely green wall

Side view so you can see the layers and dimension
Close-up of my Halloween kitty...meow!
So, what do you think? I'd love to hear some feedback! Any of your projects get completely changed about halfway through like mine? Please share!

Happy Crafting!

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

PbD Challenge #11

Altered mini composition notebook
Back cover
Front inside cover
Back inside cover
This week's challenge over at Pink by Design was to create a project using school supplies. Well, seeing as my DS is only in daycare, we actually don't have too many around the house...but I did have some mini composition notebooks! I decked it out with paper that reminds me of old school photos and some washi tape (hey, it's tape, right?). The inside cover reminds me of ledger paper...or an attendance sheet! The little rectangle referenced ink, and we all know that you use pens in school. The back cover got some striped paper (school colors?) and the sentiment on the cover...well, that's just me.

How's that for thinking outside the box?? :D

You can play along here.

Happy crafting!


Friday, August 17, 2012

Etsy Craft Carnival and Craft Show Schedule Updates

We're featured in this week's Etsy Handmade Craft Carnival over at Humbleville.com. Be sure to swing by and see us and the rest of the artists!

In other news, I've updated the 2012 Craft Show list over on the side. This week brought two more confirmations for shows, meaning I'm busy busy busy! There may be a couple more coming as well, I've got to decide just how much I can handle.

If you're local, we'd love to see you at a show!

Ok, off to package up our new clothespins and rosettes. I'll try to be back later with a crafty post.

Happy crafting!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

My Review of the August OOTB Sampler

One major perk of sending in 100 samples to the Out of the Box Sampler is that you're gifted one of the standard sized boxes. :D Mine came on Monday and I couldn't wait to tear into it. The following is my thoughts and reactions to the goodies inside.

Please note: I am brutally honest. If someone takes offense to that, I'm sorry. If anything I'd rather you walked away with thoughts on how to improve and really wow people next time. I have not been compensated for this, these are my own, stubborn thoughts.

Part of the fun is just opening the Priority Mail box to see how Michelle dressed up the boxes this time. Seeing as this month's theme was Sand in Your Shorts, I expected thoughts of beaches...and she didn't disappoint.

One pretty box and the separate food stuffs
First peek inside the box!
As always, there was a treasure trove of goodies awaiting me inside. Soaps, candles, and other treats all nestled together. I always love seeing the care that most companies put into their packaging and choosing something to match the theme. Yes, I said most...some I look at and go 'this is great, but what does it have to do with the theme? Nothing? Sigh.' Anyway, back to the goodies!

Food stuffs...yum!
Sneaky Cakes sent a delicious-smelling spice rub and Kline Farm was back again, this time with honey sticks. This is the only evidence I have that there were honey sticks...soon as my husband saw them, they were GONE! Only problem here was that the rub had a slight leakage problem in mine. No problem, nothing was ruined and that's why the food is packaged separately.

I separated everything out as I went and the piles wound up like this:

Bath Goodies
Tart Warmer Candles
Paper Crafting Goods (no, I did not get my own card)
Other; earrings from Kyote's Kreations
Overall, a very nice box of goodies. I still have more soaps than I know what to do with (I'm not even through the ones I got in June & July!) but at least I don't have to buy any for a while, right? ;)

There were, however, some items that I found disappointing. First and foremost, the sample from Lost Lemonade.

Ok, I give up...what IS it??


I have no idea what it IS! I'm surmising that it's a bath product as that's what the label says they make, but what IS IT?!? Yes, obviously I can go online and find out from their store, but why should I have to? A little label on top telling me what to do with it would go a long way. I did browse their store; looks like it might be the tea foot soak.

Here's what I consider the other disappointments, for various reasons:

My personal offenders list
Lost Lemonade is in there for not describing what their product is. Recherche I found guilty of the same thing, though I do believe it's soap. I also have no idea how it's beach related. Queen Vanna's Creations and Creations by Johnny Leigh also weren't beach related and I thought Better Body Better You was pushing it with the foot detox. Creations by Johnny Leigh sent the quilled photo mat, and honestly, I find it poorly done. If I saw it at a craft show, I wouldn't buy it. Queen Vanna & Better Body Better You also disappointed me further; these are the exact same samples that were in my box from them last month. I would have liked them to send something new for me to get excited about.

Ok, enough about the items that bummed me. Everything else I'm excited to try, and I really adored the packaging and creativity on these:

Soap wrapped like taffy, pretty packaging, and watermelon soap!
I love it when people get creative. :)

There are two different boxes to buy next month - the Think Pink box and the Golden Ticket, both of which have portions donated to charities. I'm not in those personally, but I'll be back again in October for the Halloween box! There are still a few boxes available this month if you want one of your own!

Until next time,

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Time for the August OOTBS!

Yay, it's sample box time again! We contributed once again, this time to the August Sand in Your Shorts sampler box. Want to see what I made 100 of this time?

Lighthouse Note Card in a Glassine Bag, Stamped with a Shell
What do you think?? I stamped a pretty lighthouse scene in sepia ink on my favorite speckled card stock, then added in some color throughout the scene. The lighthouse keeper's house, stripes on the lighthouse, the rocks, and the ocean...much like the wildflower cards I have in the shop.

Lighthouse Note Card
I wanted something pretty to tuck them in, so I picked up some glassine bags. They're pretty, stampable, and reusable!

Stamped Glassine Bag
Close-up of the Seashell
They looked so pretty when I tucked the card, envelope, and shop note in the bag. It made me wish I was back on the beach!

Finished Package
Do I have you wanting one yet? The sampler boxes go on sale TONIGHT right on the website. Snag one while you can! If you miss out, drop me a line...I might be persuaded to make a few more. ;)

Enjoy!